Reducing Plastics Waste

Why would a plastics manufacturing company care about plastics waste? Shouldn’t we be feeling guilty for using plastics in the first place?

Many of the material benefits that plastics offer (strength and resistance to the elements) are the exact same things that make the material so problematic to our environment. When determining if a product will be detrimental to the environment there are a few key factors to consider. The most important is the useful life of a product. Some products are designed to be used over and over again while others are meant to be disposable.

Disposable or ‘single use’ products such as plastic cups, tableware, straws, and condiment wrappers are a poor use of plastic from the standpoint of their useful life. Plastic is a miracle material designed to stand the test of time. This is why the idea of ‘single use’ and plastic really don’t mix well.

On the other end of the spectrum are products designed to have a very long ‘useful life’. For example, our poly dumpster lids and truck fenders are designed to be used tens of thousands of times before they need to be recycled or disposed of. These types of products are an ideal use of plastic.

Robmar also recycles the scrap plastic that is created by the manufacturing process. These ‘trim pieces’ are ground down into pellets called ‘regrind.’ We then sell these pellets back to our plastics supplier to be melted back down into plastic sheet again.

If you’re interested in ways to reduce the use of disposable plastic, check out this Vox video below: